Knitting-machine.



.|. H. GLENN.

-KN|TTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. s. 1914.

l,27,34; Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

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JS 1%@ g2g/ff? @wi/kwamen c* C? v Gmmm J. H. GLENN.

KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION man Nov.e.19}4.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918:

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J. H. GkENN.

KNITTING MACHINE.

IIIIIIIIIIIII LED NOV. 6, 1914. v 1,278,634. Patented Sept. 10,1918.

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A u' il( I OF PHILADELPHI-, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNQB 'EQ is- 0FPHILADELPHIA,YPENNSYLV i i KNITTING-MACHINE.

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Application led November 6, 1914. Serial No. 870,703.

To all 'whom it 'may concern." cylinder B carries the usual cams forverti- Be it known that l, JAMES H. GLENN, a cally rec'procating theneedles for the procitizen o the United States, residing at duction ofthe stitches. ln the present in- Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia stance, two sets of 'needles are carried by the and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented needle cylinder, and twov sets ofknitting to new and useful improvements in Knittin cams are carried bythe cam cylinder for ac- Machines, of which the ollowing isa speciiltionupon the respective sets of needles, the cation. butts of therespective. sets of needles and My invention relates to certain new andthe respective sets of cams designed to act lo useful improvements inhitting machines thereon being arranged in diderent hori- 65 andparticularly to knitting machines of zontal planes. rl`his arrangementis necesthat character employed in the productionk sary in knittingheels, but is not essentia of stockings and similar articles. otherwise,and is therefore merely referred One object of the invention is toprovide toI in order that the illustration may be fully i5 a knittingmachine especially adapted for and clearly understood. l

producing elastic stocking tops. The needles of each set, suchas theneedles Another object is to provide a knitting D and E, are arranged inalternation with machine embodying a novel construction each other,and.L these needles are respecand organization of needles andcontrolling tively provided with short butts d and long 2o cams for theaforesaid purpose. butts c, while each setoi cams 'F and F 75 Stillanother object is to provide a conupon the cam ring B are disposed toact struction whereby complete stockings, in` upon the butts of the.respective needles, cluding -my improved elastic tops, may be wherebythe needle s are reciprocated in the made upon one and the same machineand by knitting action. a continuous operation. As shown, each set ofcams comprises cam S0 The invention consists of the features of membersl, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, which may be o construction, combination andarrangement ordinary construction and coniorm'to the of parts hereinfully described and claimed', usual arrangement of knitting cams. Forreference being. had to the accompanying use in conjunction with thesecams l pros0 drawings in which vide additional cams 7 and 8, the cam 7be-- g5 Figure 'l is a vertical section through a ing arranged forcooperation with the cam 1 circular hitting machine. constructed inlacand the cam 8 for coperation with the cams cordance with my invention.5 and 6. The cam 7 is of less extent of pro- Fig. 2 is a horizontaltransverse section ci nection from the cylinder than the remainthe same.ing cams, and forms with the adjacent sur; 90

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of one of faces of the cam members l and.2 a guidethe cam rings and cams thereon, illustratway 9, while the cam 8consists of two in in dotted lines the action of the needles. spaced memers l() and 11, the member 10 igs. 4 and 5 are perspective views ofcerforming with the members 4 and 5 an uptain cams. wardly inclinedguideway l2, while lsaid @5 Fig. 6 is an outer side or iront tace viewmembers 10 and 11' form a downwardly 1no a-portion of the fabric. clinedguideway 13. The cams 7 and 8 are Fig. 'l' is a transverse section onthe line constructed in practice sc as to'be thrown 7-7-oi Fig. 6. intoand out of operation as desired, in or- Fig. 8 is a rear or inner faceviewo a der that the machine may operate in the 10@ portion of thefabric. usual way to knit the body of the stocking The machine .is-ingeneral of ordinary after the improved elastic top Qhas beenconstruction and includes a bed plate A, knitted. The direction oi.revolution of the upon which is rotatably mounted the cam cam cylinderis indicated by the arrows m cylinder B within which is arranged theFigs. 2 and 3, while 1n F1g. 3 there. 1s also 4 needle c linder C. Thecylinder C is prodiagrammatically indicated 1n dotted lines vided withthe usual vertical groovesl into the actions of the short and long buttneedles which are fitted sets of needles D and E and in the control ofthe same by the cams. D' and E which are of usual construction, Yarnfeeding devices are shown convenexcept as hereinafter specied. The camtonally at 20 and 21 mhig. 3. 110

' are formed. The

. from the long v done on an ord terlocked togeth In the operation ofthe machine .the butts of the needles are brou p of the cams, and at alltlmes from beginning to end in the production of any piece of knit goodseach needle carries at least one loo or thread of the fabric.The-complete cyc e of movement for each needle is to rise high enough tocast its loop over the tail end of the latch, permitting the loop tofall on t-he shank or loop part of the needle, after which the needledescends, causing the loop to close the latch over the stitch which hasJust been taken into the hook, and releasing the pre- .vious loop fromthe end of the needle hook which is now protected by the closed latch.In this Way successive chains of stitches primary characteristic of themachine of the present improved knitting mechanism resides in the factthat every alternate needle moves through two cycles while theremainingl needles are performing one. In order to effect this, the cammembers 7 and 8 are provided, and which act upon part of the needlesonly, the short butt needles vhaving a different knitting action buttneedles, Sas hereinafter fully explained.

The improved knitting mechanism is designed principally for producingthe ribbed tops of stockings, in such a manner as to secure a top ofmaximum strength, durability, and, as a matter of elasticity, and alsoto enable this work to be inary knitting machine, upon which both thebodies and tops of stockings may be produced. In the production of theribbed elastic stocking top, two kinds of yarn are used, a coarse yarn gand a finer or tension-yarn it. The coarse yarn is alternately actedupon by the needles E and D to produce loose, -long loops and closer ortighter 'alternate short loops, and to interlock the shorter loops ofradjacent courses of the coarse yarn by loops of the fine yarn, whichhold the short loops of the coarse yarn under tension. In Figs. 6 land 8G designates a portion of a stocking top, and I the portion of thestocking body with which it is connected. .During the action of themachine in ,knitting the ribbed elastic top G all of the cam devices,including the cams 7 and 8, are in use, while ofthe stocking the cams 7and 8 are thrown out of action, whereupon the cam mechanism operates inthe usual way to knit the body om the coarser yarn, the loops of thecourses being,l as ordinarily, of substantially thel same dimensions anddirectly iner. v y

By reference to Fi 3, it will be understood that the butts 5 of all theshort butt needles D-will Apass the cam surface. Aand lower portionwithout touching the same or being influenced thereby, Whereas theneedles E having ght within the paths p ducing a loop in the coarseprime lmportance, y

in knitting the remainder` l cam 3, 'ittakes up the fine yarn of themember 11 ofthe cam8 down overy the the longer butts e will be depressedby said cam. At the beginning of each new stocking top, the short buttneedles and the long butt needles are both in engagement with the heavyweight yarn, and it will be seen by reference to Fig. 3 that the Acammembers 1, 2 and 7 will be the rst to act on the needles. The needles Dhaving the short butts al will pass directly across the faceof the cam 7and first engage the cam 2, While the needles E having the longer buttse will strike the cam 7, and be forced downward for travel alon theinclined groove 12 formed between and y the aforesaid cam members. Inthe rotation of the cam cylinder each needle D will lirst be elevated bythe cam 2, then pass into engagement with the cam 3 and bedepressed-thereby, then move over into engagement with and be depressedby the cam 4,

.then be elevated by the cams 5 and 10, and

linally depressed by the cam 11 and travel in the groove 13, when itwill pass out ofengagement with said cam and move into engagement withthe upper portion of the cam 6, at which time its succeeding cycle willbegin. Each'needle D will thus be reciprocated twice on each workingcycle, for proyarn and also a loop in the fine yarn. In the cycle ofeach long butt needle the butt of the needle will engage the cam andsaid needle will pass downward below the knitting plane through thegroove 9, thence cross from the cam l to the cam 5 and travel upwardthrough the groove 12'and 'finally downward through the groove 13,andthen upward along the cam 6 to the starting position, whereby each longbutt needle will be reciprocated once on reach cycle of motion to form aloop in the coarse yarn. The dotted line w indicates the cycle vofaction of the short butt needles and the action of the cams thereon, andthe dotted line j/ indicates the cycle of action of the long buttneedles', Each coarse yarn g Will thus be formed with long loops g andshort loops g2 alternating therewith, the loops g being formed by thelon butt needles and the loops g2 by the short utt needles, while eachtine yarnlzl will be formed with loops k beltwee'n the long loops g ofthe yarn g, w g2 of adjacent courses to this aforesaid cyc needle movesupward loop Aon the needle is passed downward at the l)point and 'castover the latch on the sha As the needle l.descends along the` and on itsfurther descent along the cam 4' e yarn downward and slips yarn over theofthe needle.

. On the ensuing needle along thecam 5, the ne yarn sli ether.

8 Coarse upwardmovement of the i open latch on to the Sha 2 v ich loopsengage" and interlock the loops e of action, each over cam 2 and theulJs then 12s closed latch at the hook end j and with the nal descent ofthe needle threads and `binder loops h' of the lne along the cam 11, thecoarse yarn is again threads through the action of the short butt takenon and the i'ine is cast off over the needles, in making two stitchesduring the relosed latch and the hook end of the needle. action of along butt needle in making a This leaves the coarse yarn in the hook tosingle and looser stitch, by which the rows begin the next cycle. At thebeginning of of long stitches are' drawn together and prothe cycle ofeach long butt needle it holds jected forward while the rows of shortthe coarse yarn first during its descent stitches are pulled backward,the resultant through the passage 9. lt then rises along fabric beingribbed on its outer surface and i0 cam 5 and casts its stitch at the topof passubstantially smooth on its inner surface.

. sage 13 as the short butt 'needles do, and This construction or methodof knitting may on next descending through said passage 13 not only becarried out in the manner dethe long butt needles take up the coarseyarn scribed on an ordinary knitting machine by and carry it up'cam 6 tothe beginningof modifying the needles and cam mechanism 15 the neXtcycle. lt'will thus be evident that in accordance with my invention, butthe the long butt needles carry only the coarse ribbed top of theresultant product coin-v yarn and vmake but a single stitch in eachbines a high degree of elasticity with great cycle, while the short buttneedles make two strength, due to the fact 'that distention is stitchesin each cycle and alternately carry permitted by the co e loops on thefiner the coarse and fine yarns. The lineyarn is loops, the degree oflasticity being confined held at a greater tension than the coarsewithin proper lim ts by the high tension yarn. small loops of the cv rsethreads and the Eine Fig. 6 of the drawing shows a section of threads.the fabric from the outer or face side, dis- I claim a closingparticularly the mode in which the Tn a device for knitting accordionfabric, elastic ribbed top is interwoven between the a series of longbutt needles, a series of short body of the stocking to which it isattached butt needles, a cam ring for controlling the and the nal courseof the toe of the preneedles, said ring including in succession a cedingstocking. Tt will be seen from this needle depressing cani adapted toengage the that the coarse yarnis woven loosely on the long butt needlesto the exclusion of the long butt needles, which form the long loops,needles of the other series, a stitch cain actand that the alternatestitches or loopsare ing on the short butt needles, a sectional Wovenmuch more tightly. Tt will also be needle elevating cam, a depressingcam an seen that the fine or high tension yarn passes another elevatingcam, each acting on a :55 back of the heavier and' looser stitches theneedles, the upper portion of the secf formed by the long butt needles,thus forc'- tional cam and the second depressing cam ing the rows oflong loops, to the front being mounted 0n acommon support for adwhilethe` intermediate stitches foi-med by `justinent radially of the camring.

the short loops of the coarseyarn and loops In testimony whereof l affixmy signature 40 of the fine yarn being under greater tension, inpresence of two witnesses.

are pulled toward the back or inside of the JS H. GLENN stocking, thusforming the alternate ribs of Witnesses: v the fabric. This structure issecured by 'HELEN G. D,

weaving the short loops g2 of the coarse v NoN J. SMITH,

